Some 1,000 youth activists affiliated with political parties in both the coalition and the opposition have signed a petition calling to take action on behalf of the Land of Israel “beyond any political disagreement.”
The petition was initiated by Eliyahu Friedman, chairman of the youth branch of the Sovereignty Movement headed by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar.
The background for the petition is the establishment of a non-partisan Youth Forum joined by youth organizations affiliated with right-wing parties from the coalition and the opposition, including New Hope, Likud, Yamina, the Religious Zionist Party, and others.
As a first step, the forum collected the signatures of 1,000 youths from throughout the country, members of the various right-wing parties, who signed a petition calling to consider the Land of Israel “a fundamental value that transcends any political disagreement.”
The petition begins with a quote from Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion who asserted that “without Jewish land, Zionism becomes a parody and is transformed into an empty vision.”
The petition states that “these days, when the majority of the Jewish people reside in its Land around its united capital, the Arabs of Judea and Samaria are occupying acre after acre, the Bedouins are imposing their terror in the Negev, and the Jewish residents of the mixed cities have lost their sense of security.”
“It is for that reason that we, the heads of the youth organizations, have assembled here to restore the values of Zionism, the Land of Israel, settlement, and security, in order to return the Land of Israel to the top of the agenda. We understand the momentous nature of this time and its significance, and we cry out with the cry of our Land,” the petition declares.
The “Youth Forum of the Land of Israel” stated goal is to work to restore the Land of Israel to “the top of the national and political list of priorities.”
“We call upon you, the youth, to join us, and together we will take action on behalf of our land because the Land of Israel is not a political issue; it is the essence of our existence and the essence of our people,” the Forum declared.
Friedman explained that the Youth Forum of the Land of Israel in the Knesset unites within it the youth organizations of all the parties that “believe in the vision of settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel.”
“Under the leadership of Sovereignty Youth, the forum is promoting among the youth a political discourse that says – the Land of Israel transcends political disagreements,” he noted.
Freidman said that the Forum is preparing “information and consciousness-raising” activities in the Knesset, and on the street is highlighting the “challenges facing the lovers of the Land of Israel in this period – governance of the Negev and the Galilee, the Jerusalem challenge, Palestinian taking control of Area C, and governance in south Tel Aviv.”
